User talk:Hoof Hearted: Difference between revisions

User talk:Hoof Hearted (edit)

Revision as of 00:36, 1 December 2022

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→‎Merge policy?: Detailed reply

Hoof Hearted

Bureaucrats, checkuser, interwiki, Administrators (Semantic MediaWiki), staff, Administrators

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 :::Now deleted.  Thanks for your understanding.  And welcome again.  [[User:Hoof Hearted|<big>Sean P</big>, <small>''aka'' Hoof Hearted</small>]] • <sub>[[:Category:Active administrators of this wiki|Admin]] / [[WikiIndex:Bureaucrats|'Crat]] / [[Staff]]</sub> • <small>[[User talk:Hoof Hearted|talk2HH]]</small> 14:26, 26 November 2022 (UTC)
-== Merge policy? ==
+==Merge policy?==
+I checked the [[Althistory]] page, and it says that the page should be merged with another one. OK so far, a long time ago I did that at WP, and kinda remember it also involves merging the histories so nothing is lost. But what is WI's merging policy actually? It's still a red link...--[[User:Max Sinister|Max Sinister]] ([[User talk:Max Sinister|talk]]) 23:55, 30 November 2022 (UTC)
+:You are indeed correct that our merge policy is still a red link :-p  Indeed, many basic policies were red links until the last few years!  I will endeavour to make a start on that specific policy very soon.
-I checked the [[Althistory]] page, and it says that the page should be merged with another one. OK so far, a long time ago I did that at WP, and kinda remember it also involves merging the histories so nothing is lost. But what is WI's merging policy actually? It's still a red link...--[[User:Max Sinister|Max Sinister]] ([[User talk:Max Sinister|talk]]) 23:55, 30 November 2022 (UTC)
+:The actual mechanism for [[Special:MergeHistory|Merging]] can only be carried out by [[sysop]]s, due to the licensing need to retain [[edit history]] (and [[attribution]]) of both articles.  Whilst the merge function is automated, it does need oversight - because not every edit can be merged - so discretion needs to be observed before actioning it.
+:Regarding the Althistory, and indeed all merge requests - sometimes, an editor may mark an article for merging (in good faith) - when in fact, it should remain in its own right.  Aside any genuine but accidental duplicate entries - the most common reason for mistakenly tagging for a merge is when a wiki site has changed host by way of [[fork]]ing (and instead of creating a new article for the new host - an editor may simply update the original wiki site to the URLs of the new host!).  The original wiki site, at its original host should be preserved as its own article here (annotating its status if necessary as abandoned or dead), and using a hat-note template to point to any new host.  I notice that it was [[User talk:Ismael755|Ismael755]] who added the merge tag to [[Althistory]] (I think I was on an extended wiki break at that time - personal issues), and he also added a new article [[Alternate Future Wiki]].  Glancing very briefly, it appears that both sites co-existed, though I guess they now are merged into one site on Wikia.  There is also the same issue with [[Future]] and [[The Future Wiki]]!
+:In summary, if two articles have been created about an identical site on an identical host - the articles should be merged.  But if they are or were two separate wiki sites (even if say on Wikia), but have themselves since merged (usually by Wikia), the article here referring to the 'original' (even if dead) should be retained - and ideally archived links found to support it.
+:Hope that makes sense! :)  [[User:Hoof Hearted|<big>Sean P</big>, <small>''aka'' Hoof Hearted</small>]] • <sub>[[:Category:Active administrators of this wiki|Admin]] / [[WikiIndex:Bureaucrats|'Crat]] / [[Staff]]</sub> • <small>[[User talk:Hoof Hearted|talk2HH]]</small> 00:36, 1 December 2022 (UTC)